Proposed CNMI power price dismissed in impeachment talk

An official with the Northern Marianas Commonwealth Utilities Corporation, Wallon Young, has told the Special Committee on Impeachment that it would be impossible to generate diesel power for 18 US cents a kilowatt hour.

The low figure is what the government claims to be a key reason for it pursuing a controversial multi million dollar deal with a Delaware-based company called Saipan Development LLC.

The deal would involve the company building a power plant and providing electricity to the state utility.

Mr Young, an electrical engineer, says there's no power plant on the planet that can generate electricity for 18 cents per kilowatt hour.

But the Governor's press secretary, Angel Demapan, says not much weight should be given to Mr Young's testimony since the CUC aims to keep rates high to support its inflated payroll.